Let’s Make it Pink

By: Alshaimaa Nada

@NadaAlshaimaa

AUC’s Hand in Hand (HIH) community service club kicked off its Go Pink campaign on October 4 with the goal of spreading campus awareness of breast cancer.

The campaign is part of ‘The Wheel’ project, which specifically targets raising awareness on certain topics that are often neglected and may often go unnoticed in the community. 

The Go Pink campaign was launched in tandem with October being International Breast Cancer Awareness month.

“The campaign highlights the reasons that cause breast cancer, ways to discover the illness earlier, tips to recover, symptoms and pieces of advice to encourage women and girls to do checkups frequently,” said HIH’s President, Ahmed Saeed.

Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth in breast’s tissues which could lead to the formation of malignant tumors. According to the Journal of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene (JPMH), “prevalence of breast carcinoma is high in Egypt and the cases of breast cancer constitute 29 percent of cancer cases treated at the national cancer institute”.

“We took this chance to raise awareness about breast cancer through the Go Pink campaign to make people aware of how prevalent it is,” said HIH’s Projects’ Director, Farah Amgad.

Amgad and Saeed told The Caravan that they’re following two strategies in campaigning – online, with Facebook and Instagram, and on-the-ground.

“When we post publications related to the Go Pink campaign, we decide to choose the pink color to make it attractive to women and girls, even though pink is not included in the club’s logo palate, but we feel that the campaign is worth it to change our identity,” Saeed said.

The on-the-ground awareness plan is to distribute brochures on campus and a collaboration with the Student Union (SU) on October 13. 

“We are planning to put brochures in classes, [the] library and [the] plaza. These brochures highlight some precautions on how to avoid breast cancer, how to do self-examination to discover it earlier and how to deal with its treatments,” Amgad said.

Saeed also added that the flyers will include the campaign’s objectives. 

“We are going to put posters and flyers in classes in a way that could be attractive to students to read,” Saeed explained.

“The more aware we are, the more hope we have to fight breast cancer battle,” Amgad said.

Aside from ‘The Wheel’ project, HIH is also working on two other projects: ‘Bridge’ and ‘Imprint’. 

The Bridge project focused on giving back to the elderly either by regularly visiting their homes or by improving their quality of life through sustainable means. 

The Imprint project focuses on spreading happiness and leaving a mark on chidlrens’ lives by visiting orphanages, hospitals and schools. The purpose of these visits is to teach kids basic life skills that will change the way they look to the future.